In the fabrication of semiconductor devices, numerous conductive device regions and layers are formed in or on a semiconductor substrate. The conductive regions and layers of the device are isolated from one another by a dielectric or insulating layer, for example, silicon dioxide or a doped oxide such as phosphosilicate glass (PSG) and borophosphosilicate glass (BPSG). These dielectric layers typically overlay a silicon-comprising surface such as single crystal silicon, epitaxial silicon, polysilicon, or silicides such as titanium silicide.
At several stages during wafer fabrication, it is necessary to form contact openings through insulative material to establish electrical communication with the integrated circuitry. Such contact openings, when filled with a conducting material such as a metal or polysilicon, electrically connect devices with the integrated circuitry. To ensure formation of desired dimensions and profile for contact openings, the etchant must be highly selective to promote removal of the insulation layer and not the underlying layer.
Contact openings with high aspect ratios, i.e., a high height-to-width ratio, are formed to be fairly narrow, typically with vertical sidewalls to ensure that a sufficiently large contact area is provided at the bottom of the contact opening for conductive material that is subsequently formed in the opening. To form the openings, a masking layer such as a photoresist is formed over the insulative layer, i.e., silicon oxide layer, and is subsequently patterned to define the contact openings. The contact opening is etched using an etch that is highly selective relative to masking layer. Conventional processes used to form a contact opening involve etching through the insulative layer by exposure to a plasma formed in a plasma reactor. Reactive ion etching (RIE) and plasma etching (PE) are common dry-etch plasma methods used to open contact openings anisotropically through a dielectric.
A fluorocarbon plasma is typically used to etch silicon dioxide. Such a plasma typically includes one or more fluorocarbons as the primary active constituents, for example CF4, CHF3, and C3F8, CH2F2, CH3F, C2F6, C4F6, CnFn+4, and mixtures thereof. The fluorinated gas dissociates and reacts with the silicon oxide to form volatile silicon difluoride (SiF2) or silicon tetrafluoride (SiF4) and carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide.
Although the plasma etch rate of the oxide is generally faster than the resist erosion rate, when dry etching an opening having a high aspect ratio, the etch chemistry causes the resist layer to gradually erode away, often before the desired depth of the opening is achieved. Another problem is related to faceting or chaffering of the photoresist mask at the edge of the opening, caused by ion bombardment. This can wear away the underlying oxide resulting in surface roughness and striations in the etch features, and the loss of critical dimensions of the opening being etched. In an array such as a memory cell, contacts are positioned in close proximity to each other, and the erosion and localized breakdown of the photoresist can result in the development of notches and other blemishes in the surface of the contact, which can extend to and short an adjacent contact.
The plasma etching processes generates very reactive ionized species, atomic fluorine, and CxFy radicals that combine to form polymeric residues. A drawback with plasma etching and RIE of silicon oxide using some fluorinated etch gases is the buildup of carbon-fluorine based polymer material on the sidewalls of vias and other openings that can deposit during the etch. FIG. 1 illustrates a wafer fragment 10, a contact opening 12 etched through an opening in a mask 14 downwardly through a silicon oxide layer 16 deposited on a substrate 18, and the effect of the buildup of polymeric residues 20 on the sidewalls 22 and the bottom surface 24 of the contact opening 12 formed during a typical prior art etch process.
The continuous buildup of polymeric etch residues on sidewalls 22 of the oxide opening 12 tends to constrict the opening, inhibiting the etch and resulting in the profile of the sidewalls becoming tapered, as depicted in FIG. 1. Polymer material can also build up in the bottom 24 of the opening 12. Since an anistropic etch of the oxide layer 16 relies on ionic bombardment of the bottom 24 of the opening being etched, if too much polymeric layer 20 deposits on the bottom surface 24 of the opening during etching, etching of the contact opening will cease if the layer 24 is not removed.
Therefore, a need exists for a method of etching silicon oxide layers to provide high aspect ratio openings that overcomes these problems. It would be desirable to provide an etching process for the formation of deep contact openings through an oxide layer that inhibits or regulates the deposition of polymeric etch residues on the sidewalls of the openings and improves resist selectivity and eliminates striations and notching.